A Message to Garcia

President McKinley -- body by Dell Henderson, voice by John Carradine -- orders Lieutenant John Boles to deliver a message to rebel General Garcia that the US will begin a war against Spain, and cooperate with him. Along the way he is pursued by German spy Alan Hale, and picks up as aides Cuban rebel Barbara Stanwyck and US Marines deserter Wallace Beery.

The last two are inventions for the movie. Beery plays a variation on Long John Silver, and Miss Stanwyck is as hot as a jungle. Neither did the real Lieutenant Rowan head down to Cuba as a stoker carrying a letter. He traveled comfortably with an oral message. That, however, would not have made an interesting movie, and producer Raymond Griffith and director George Marshall lay it on thick.

What will surprise most people, given his fallen reputation, is how good Boles is: simultaneously intrepid, inventive, naive, and romantic. It's romantic piffle as history, a staple of the moom pitchers, but a lot of fun.

"A Message to Garcia" has the sort of insane casting that was not very uncommon during Hollywood's golden age. Think about it--Barbara Stanwyck plays a Cuban woman! And, Wallace Beery plays an American living in Cuba for ten years...which sounds plausible except that he knows almost no Spanish at all!!! What was the studio thinking?! Surely they could have gotten some folks more suited to these roles! And, surely Stanwyck could have at least tried to put on some sort of non-American accent!!

This film is set in the period just before the Spanish-American War in 1898. The President of the US has sent an emissary (John Boles) to Cuba on a secret mission to deliver a message to the leader of the Cuban rebel army led by General Garcia. The problem is locating the guy. After all, it's not like Garcia wants anyone to find him--otherwise the Spanish army would have quickly captured him! Once in Cuba, Boles is assisted both by Stanwyck and Beery during a long trek through the jungle. Oddly, folks seem to die several times during this journey--only to amazingly appear later in the movie! Pretty weird! Overall, this is a dopey movie. Surprisingly, its best aspect is Beery's broad acting because he does bring some energy and humor to the film--two things otherwise lacking in the movie. A rather limp film in most ways--surely the studio could have done better.

By the way, after writing this review I listened to Robert Osborne (of Turner Classic Movies) talk about this film. Apparently it was a bomb at the box office--reviewers and the public just wouldn't accept Stanwyck in such a ridiculous role! I would rank this one up there with John Wayne as Genghis Khan and Clark Gable as the Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, or Katharine Hepburn as a Chinese woman in "Dragon Seed". It's a film she clearly should have been ashamed of, as she was the worst thing about it.

1936's "A Message to Garcia" is lackluster Fox fiction set in Cuba during the Spanish American War of 1898. US President William McKinley (Dell Henderson) is the one sending the message to the Cuban general (Enrique Acosta) fighting the Spaniards, who have hired a German assassin (Alan Hale) to intercept the man carrying the vital paper (John Boles). Barbara Stanwyck plays the Cuban girl who falls for him, while top billed Wallace Beery supplies comic relief through the lengthy jungle trek, playing off both sides during the conflict. Not one of Barbara's more stellar efforts, with her screen time sadly limited, though Alan Hale makes a surprisingly effective villain. An uncredited John Carradine does not appear on screen as President McKinley, but it is his voice that we hear in the opening sequence, sounding as though he were recorded underwater. Perhaps cast for his physical resemblance to the President, Dell Henderson must have come up short, so Carradine's more authoritative tones were rather poorly dubbed in, an unconvincing performance despite the combined efforts of both actors (Carradine had recently provided several dubbed voices in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Crusades").

A Message to Garcia has two sterling stars in its cast; Wallace Beery and Barbara Stanwyck. It also features John Boles as a romantic lead for Stanwyck. The film vaguely interesting, but only for the two lead stars. The storyline is not strong enough to gain any momentum. Stanwyck as a Cuban is not the best of casting. (Wouldn't Delores Del Rio have been a much better choice?). Interesting from a historical perspective.

Turgid, set bound drama with some wild miscasting in central roles. It's not that the film isn't filled with some very good performers, Beery is believable as a renegade wanderer looking for the prime advantage but he's the only actor that really seems to fit. John Boles gives his usual block of wood performance, a dull hole at the center of the movie. The most ludicrous of all is Barbara Stanwyck, a great actress yes but a native born Cuban senorita? never! They couldn't have borrowed Lupe Velez or Dolores del Rio? Perhaps not Cubans either but at least being Latin they would have not stood out so glaringly.

All great stars have turkeys in their filmographies this is one manages to take down both Missy and Wally Beery. What could have been an interesting rendering of a historical event becomes just so much studio fodder to fill a double bill.